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Monday, June 1, 2015

Roasted Chickpea Snack with Smoked Spanish Paprika

In Sri Lanka, my snack of choice was fried chickpeas. I had a bag of them I took on the bus, and I'd happily munch on them between meals. I've been thinking about making my own version for awhile, but the final push came when I was trying to think of a vegan snack to take to crafty gathering. Sadly, I ran out of nut cheese, but I did have some cooked chickpeas that were canned in quart jars.

Since deep frying takes too much tending, I wanted to make these chickpea snacks by roasting them in the oven. I'm happy to report that my first try turned out crunchy and addictive. In other words, it was the perfect snack!

For seasoning, I mixed together smoked Spanish paprika, cumin, salt, and evaporated cane sugar. After I rinsed and dried the chickpeas (using a clean kitchen towel), I gently stirred the spice mixture and olive oil over the beans. I adjusted the spices until I felt that the beans were just slightly underseasoned because I thought that the seasoning would taste right once the chickpeas were dried. In retrospect, I should have added a touch more salt, but that could have been corrected once the beans were out of the oven.

Once the beans were seasoned, I spread them out, single layer, on a baking tray brushed with more olive oil. They were roasted at 350 °F with the convection fan on (roast at 375 °F if you don't have a convection oven) for roughly 40 minutes. After 15 minutes and every 10 minutes afterward, I checked the chickpeas and shook them around in the pan so they didn't stick. They are done when the beans are golden brown, but not burned.